Check out that image, from last weekend’s DPVA convention, and note who the top “supporter” of the 2016 state “JJ Dinner” was. That’s right, supposedly “regulated” monopoly utility company Dominion Power, which uses the money WE send it every month in our power bills in order to purchase/capture our government. Lovely, eh?

Energy giant Dominion continues to invest heavily in an alternate form of power in Virginia: political power.

The corporation gave $100,000 to the Democratic Party of Virginia in a lump sum check dated June 14, according to the Virginia Public Access Project, a nonpartisan tracker of money in state politics. VPAP said it is the largest single donation since 1997 made by the corporation to a Virginia campaign committee or candidate.

…The large corporate contributions raise eyebrows among political and government watchdog groups.

“It’s reasonable to infer that Dominion wants something,” said Dale Eisman of Common Cause, an advocacy group in Washington, referring to the DPVA and Republican donations. “That is a lot of money, and corporations are no different from you and me in that they typically don’t throw around a lot of money just for nothing.”

And the most important point: “As Virginia’s largest utility, Dominion often has major business before state agencies.”

So yeah, a huge, powerful corporation with frequent business and regulatory issues before stage government gets to give millions of dollars – certainly NOT out of the goodness of its cold, corporate heart – to make sure they get the policies they want, and to block the policies (e.g., a rapid shift to clean energy and distributed power) they do NOT want. Lovely.

Faber, VA—Today Marion Kanour, founder of anti-pipeline group Free Nelson, and long-time Democrat, said, “It seems the DPVA has allowed its need for money to become more important than the best interests of its membership and grassroots supporters,” after learning that the DPVA had accepted a $100,000 contribution from Dominion, the state’s largest polluter.

At their local convention, the 6th Congressional District Democrats passed, by acclamation, two resolutions. These resolutions supported the communities fighting the dirty-fracked gas Atlantic Coast and Mountain Valley Pipelines Governor McAuliffe supports. The resolutions (attached) were submitted to the DPVA Resolutions Committee. However, the two resolutions were pulled and never received a vote at the Convention. Dominion was also the number one sponsor of the Democratic Party of Virginia’s Jefferson Jackson Dinner which was held Saturday night at the DPVA’s state convention. (Photo included.)

Kanour continued, “It is, perhaps, coincidental that resolutions against the proposed pipelines never made it to the floor of the Convention while, at the same time, Dominion is giving $100,000 donations to the DPVA. That coincidence makes us wonder about the possibility of a quid pro quo relationship between Dominion and the DPVA.” The DPVA, a group made up of rank-and-file Democrats, accepting Dominion’s money puts the organization at odds with many rural communities fighting these dirty-fracked gas pipelines, communities which have also worked hard to improve Democrats’ position in rural Virginia.

Free Nelson is a signatory to the Open Letter to the Governor requesting he fulfill his promises to move Virginia to clean, renewable energy and will be participating in the March on the Mansion on July 23rd in Richmond.